Ming Kee Live Seafood

The trip here was at Sandy's request - she read about this place on Chubby Hubby's blog. This place is supposed to be famous for it's crab bee hoon but Sandy was leaving for the UK and just could not leave the country for a year without having Chilli Crab one last time -


At $38 per kg, this 1.3kg crab cost $49.40. It was fresh with lots of flesh so can't complain... the chilli sauce was unremarkable though. But we still had it with fried buns (man tou) :)

We also had Sweet and Sour Fish $12 -


and Home-style Tofu $8 -


Seemed a bit of a waste to deep fry such fresh fish to make the sweet and sour fish... the beancurd was pretty soft and very tasty. Way way WAY too much food for two girls, but we did a pretty decent job of finishing up most of it :)

The food was pretty decent, but after reading Chubby Hubby's post on how good the Crab Bee Hoon was, I think I'll have to make a trip back here to try it soon...


Ming Kee Live Seafood
556 Macpherson Road
Tel: 6747 4075

Margarita's (Dempsey)

It was Ennie's birthday and she requested to eat at Margarita's at Dempsey... which made it the 4th place I tried at Tanglin Village.

The punctual ones (including me, of course) were getting hungry so ordered Nachos $15.90++ and Potato Wedges $5.00++ to snack on first -




I love nachos - a huge cheesy mess! And the wedges were good too - but that's likely coz we were hungry :)

We also ordered for starters Deep Fried Jalapeno Peppers $18.00++ -


I went for the smallest one, thinking I didn't want a big portion... and boy, did I regret it! The smallest jalapeno pepper was also the hottest one! :O While everyone else ate their's without much trouble, my mouth was on fire the moment I had a bite of mine. I had Uncle Leong taste a bit of mine to verify that mine was hotter than everyone else's... but it was really good though! Just don't ever take the smallest one.

For the main course, I had the Fish Burrito $19.90++ which came recommended by some reviewers on hungrygowhere -


And it was as good as they raved about... never had fish burrito before and it's a nice change from the usual meaty burritos - it was tasty and went well with all the usual stuff that goes in a burrito :)

The Kitchen Sink Burrito $19.90++ -


well, not that you can see it, but it had everything including the kitchen sink in it :) I love that name!

The many bad reviews in hungrygowhere are totally true - it was not easy getting service (but the food came pretty fast), and the place gets amazingly noisy. The food was not too bad but I think I prefer the food at Café Iguana - and it's got better ambience and service too!

Do make reservations if you intend to try this place, they are packed even on a weekday night.


Margarita's (Dempsey)
11 Dempsey Road
#01-19 Tanglin Village
S249673
Tel: 6471 3228

Marmalade Pantry (Hitachi Tower)

I've never actually had a proper meal at Marmalade Pantry, just brunch and desserts... so was quite pleased to finally get a chance to try the food here.

One of the most popular dishes here is the Linguini with Crabmeat Tomato Chilli & Pinenuts (all six people at the next table ordered it) but I decided to buck the trend and ordered the Ultimate Beef Burger $19.00+++ instead :


The burger was not as juicy as I would have liked it but the fries were yummy, the other gals just could not stop picking them off my plate :)

Of course, someone at our table also had to order the Linguini with Crabmeat Tomato Chilli & Pinenuts $19.00+++, so I managed to sneak a try -


It was ok, I guess... don't really see why it's so popular. Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm having a carb craving...

The Sticky Date Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream $10.00+++ was not too bad -


but I think the one at Brown Sugar Bistro Café is still the best I've had.

Service was pretty attentive but the place tends to get a bit noisy during lunchtime. A welcomed alternative lunch venue for the people working down at Raffles Place.


Marmalade Pantry
16 Collyer Quay
Unit 01-04 Hitachi Tower
Singapore 049318
Tel : 6438 5015

Hooters

Yes, I went to Hooters of my own free will :)

The problem with Clarke Quay is that the restaurants there are not particularly good and not particularly cheap. Dining at Clarke Quay is more about experience / theme dining than good food. Decided to go to Hooters coz I haven't eaten here in a looong time and well, it's relatively cheap compared to the other places in Clarke Quay...

We weren't that hungry so just ordered the Sampler Platter $34.90+++ and Curly Fries $3.90+++ to share :



The Sampler Platter didn't look like much but we were pretty stuffed when we were done - it had prawns (relatively big and fresh), crab legs (I always feel it's not worth the effort), buffalo shrimps (supposed to be in some special sauces but it was pretty plain) and some wings... the wings were pretty plain tasting, I kinda expected something spicy. I nearly always order curly fries when I see it, but these were plain too - drowned them in chilli sauce.

All in all, the food is nothing to shout about but it was a decent meal. Just try not to get too annoyed with the girls in tight tops and short shorts speaking unintelligibly...


Hooters
3D River Valley Road
#01-03 Shophouse Row
Clarke Quay Singapore 179023
Tel : 63321090
www.hooters.com.sg

Barracks

G could not think of a place to go for X's birthday tea so I suggested trying this place out... also giving me the opportunity to blog about a new place :) G made reservations in advance and were given a greenhouse-type room with floor to ceiling glass windows all around. But G&X decided that it would be too noisy coz it's enclosed (and we tend to talk really loudly sometimes), so we moved to a table in the main dining area instead.

The wait staff here are dressed in school uniforms - cute idea for the girls, but the guys looked too bizarre as some of them are a bit on the old side... but some of the girls actually look like there were of school-going age. In case you are thinking of going there to perv, the latest review said that they are no longer in school uniforms...

Forgot to bring my camera so had to use K's handphone camera - thanks, K! We were there for tea so only managed to try the desserts. The desserts all came served in mess tins - I had the Peanut Butter Cake $11+++ (right) and that's the Bergamot Pound Cake $7+++ on the left :


The Peanut Butter Cake was good, but not quite enough peanut butter to satisfy my peanut butter craving. A bit disturbing to have childish hundreds and thousands on a elegant, grown-up Bergamot Pound Cake, but the cake was good with just a hint of earl grey tea.

Also tried the Green Tea Tofu Tiramisu $9.50+++,


Big Barracks Strawberry Shortcake $9.50+++ and Carrot Cake $8+++ :


Nothing spectacular about the Green Tea Tiramisu and I'm so not a fan of Carrot Cake. The Strawberry Shortcake was my 2nd choice for dessert so I was glad I managed to take a bite of it - it was pretty good!

Plenty of other desserts on the menu that I wanted to try but didn't have enough stomach room for - Chendol Pannacotta, Chocolate Almond Cake, Triple Chocolate Brownie... and the rest of the menu sounds really interesting and will probably be back to try more stuff.

Service was a bit inconsistent - the staff (especially the younger ones) didn't know the menu as well as they should, but they were extremely attentive with topping up our glasses of water.

Nice ambience with a creative menu, worth a visit.


Barracks
8D Dempsey Road
#01-01 to 06 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)
Singapore 249672
Tel: 6475 7787 / 6479 9212
www.dempseyhouse.com

Mango Onde Onde from Hui Lau San

On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I discovered what I have since renamed Mango Onde Onde. Hui Lau San is a mango dessert place that I go to at least once every day when I'm in Hong Kong. Victor recommended that we try this new creation, and I have to admit I was really hesistant about it...


but it is heavenly.

I'm a huge mango fan, and I love onde onde (anything the same consistency as tangyuan, remember? :) so I totally fell in love with this. The filling is fresh mango puree and the kueh itself is also mango flavoured. I'm so going to have an insane amount of it the next time I'm in Hong Kong...

Thanks Jovie, for bringing this box back for me! :)

Food For Thought

Yet another place that I read on ieatishootipost that I just had to check out... so arranged to meet S here for dinner one evening.

It's easy to miss this place if you're not looking out for it... and it's tiny, can fit all of maybe 20 plus people, but the size does add to the cosiness of the place.

We figured the Sampler Platter for two was the best option. For $19.90, you get 3 sandwiches, 2 soups and 1 salad.

For the salad, we went with the Chinese Chicken Caesar -


which we both loved! All the little details make this caesar salad one of the best I've ever had - the crispy anchovies, hard boiled eggs with soft yolks, the little slivers of deep fried garlic which imparts a delicate taste to the salad... and the sesame ginger soya sauce dressing puts the ultimate final touch to this yummy salad. Oh, and there was chicken and some greens too! :)

So we're supposed to get two soups but I only remember having one... maybe they ran out of the other soup we wanted? In any case we had this Pumpkin soup (at least I think it was pumpkin) -


Huge portion even for two persons... but the soup itself, I didn't like all that much.

For the sandwiches, we went with Chorizo Sausages (left), Slow Roasted Pulled Pork (top right) and Roast Beef (bottom right) -


I love how the sandwich is deconstructed... I normally eat my sandwiches that way anyway :) I was expecting to be wowed by the fillings, but while they were pretty good, they were not memorable.

Their philosophy on dessert is to source from cottage industries in the community, which means it's all homemade goodies! We were totally spoiled for choice and got a sugar rush from just looking at the array of desserts... we eventually settled on these two : Nutella Cupcake and some form of Rocky Road -


The (huge) amount of sugar made the small portions just right :)

We felt really comfortable despite it being our first time there... there was just such a welcoming and warm atmosphere here. And with the reasonable prices and good food, this is surely a place to revisit over and over again.


Food for Thought
420 North Bridge Road
North Bridge Centre #01-06
Singapore 188727
Tel : 6338 8724
www.foodforthought.com.sg

Devagi's Restaurant & Café

K had a friend in town and before bringing her to the Night Safari, we came here to have dinner. K loves the food here and was eager for me to give it a try...

We had Stir Fried Mushrooms $6.00+ -


A small portion for that price, but quite tasty.

The Stir Fried Spinach with Coconut $6.00+ didn't sound all that promising...


but I loved it! It was really yummy and the little bits of coconut added such an unexpected crunchiness to the dish.

I thought the Tofu Masala $6.00+ would be a curry dish but turned out to be dry -


It was just ok.

The Assam Fish Slice Curry $7.00++ is one of K's favourite dishes -


and for good reason - it was sour and spicy and very good value!

The Vegetable Briyani $9.00+


and Prawn Briyani $10.90+


were both really good - healthy (very little ghee used), yet extremely flavourful.

Devagi herself convinced us to try the desserts so we ended up ordering the Rose Falooda Ice Cream (ice-cream with vermicelli) $3.60+ -


and Gula Melaka Banana Ice Cream $5.50+ -


I didn't like either desserts. Vermicelli with ice cream is just too bizarre a combination and I'm not a big fan of gula melaka (except when it's inside onde onde). A bit of an acquired taste, I think...

The food was generally good but portions a bit small. Parking is a problem along the road but I always park at the HDB block behind the community centre. Come here for some tasty and healthy Indian cooking.


Devagi's Restaurant & Café
200 Upper Thomson Road
#01-03 Thomson Imperial Court
S574424 Tel : 6255 2440
www.devagi.com

Dessert Hut

Three consecutive posts on desserts... I certainly have a sweet tooth :)

Was meeting S during tea time and we decided to be adventurous and try this place at People's Park Centre. Would never have guessed there was a dessert stall in this old and run down building, but there were actually two right next to each other and both quite crowded too... We picked the older, more authentic looking one.

Tried the Black Sesame Paste and Tang Yuan in Ginger Soup -


The desserts were not very good... which resulted in me going to Ji De Chi to have another round of desserts after dinner. Can always count on the desserts at Ji De Chi, the black sesame paste is always good... in fact, it's even better than the ones I had in Hong Kong!

If you're in the Chinatown area and are craving desserts, Ji De Chi has a branch in the Chinatown area (46 Upper Cross Street) so go there instead!


Dessert Hut
101 Upper Cross Street
People's Park Centre
#02-48 Tel : 6533 1137

Tang Yuan with Ginger Soup

I have this unreal obsession with tang yuan... actually pretty much anything of similar consistency - onde onde, mochi, ang ku kueh etc. After being convinced that it's really not that hard to make, I embarked on the adventure of making my very own tang yuan.

Exact measuresments are quite non-existent for making tang yuan, believe me I tried searching on the internet. But having made some myself, I kinda understand why.

Anyway here are the vague instructions :
(1) Add water to glutinous rice flour - enough water to make the dough into a kneadable consistency
(2) Roll into balls of desired size.
(3) Drop the tang yuan one by one into a pot of boiling water. Take the tang yuan out of the pot once they float.
(4) Slice up some ginger and boil in a pot of water, adding sugar to taste.
(5) Put the tang yuan in a bowl of ginger soup and...

Voila! Homemade Tang Yuan in Ginger Soup -


Aren't my little balls of tang yuan just so pretty??

Next challenge will be to make tang yuan with fillings... or maybe even try making onde onde (as the recipe is nearly exactly the same).

Ben & Jerry's (Dempsey)

After dinner at Rakuichi, we decided to adjourn here for dessert. The place was packed! Decorated to look like the inside of a ranch home, it give the place a real homely feel.

I have to say, I love my Ben & Jerry's ice-cream. My favourite flavour is Bovinity Divinity (Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream with white chocolate and fudge cows) but that flavour has long been demoted to the Ben & Jerry's Flavour Graveyard :(

My current favourites are Phish Food (Chocolate ice cream with a caramel-marshmallow swirl and fish shaped chocolate chunks) and Chubby Hubby (Chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels in vanilla malt ice cream with fudge and peanut butter swirl). Hmm, come to think of it I haven't had Chubby Hubby in a while...

Anyway I digress... so I ended up ordering Waffles with 2 scoops of ice-cream (phish food, can't remember the other flavour). Everyone there had waffles but K and I were the only ones to have a whole waffle to ourselves :P


Sorry for the dark and blurry photo - bad lighting. Was hilarious seeing G look on in amazement as I finished the whole waffle by myself... right after dinner too.

The waffle was really yummy, and as far as I'm concerned, you can never go wrong with Ben & Jerry's ice cream. A dream combination :)

Definitely come here for dessert if you have the craving for something sweet, but maybe wait for the hype to die down first... otherwise, be prepared to wait for a table.


Ben & Jerry's (Dempsey)
8B Dempsey Road
Tel: 6473-3231

Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant

This is the first of four posts of eating places in Tanglin Village. When I got there, I felt like I was so out of touch coz I had no idea this hip and happening had popped up... then found out that it was really quite new, and I'm quite pleased that I've managed to check out so many places already :)

With 7 of us and a prior reservation, we were given a private room which was spacious and had a nice ambience. But it was a real pain having to constantly open the door to get service - only on the rare occasion did they come into the room without us calling them...

As for the food, we ordered dishes to share so I managed to try quite a range of the food here. For the skewers we ordered, (from left to right) Asupara $3.00+++, Enoki Bacon $4.00+++, Buta Kakuni (Grilled Pork) $4.00+++ :


I never fail to order any skewers with enoki in it, and it never disappoints... don't ask me why I love enoki so much - I just do :) The menu was pretty clear in stating that the price was for just one skewer so we knew what to expect, but I think it's a bit overpriced - $3.00+++ for four small pieces of asparagus??

The Tempura Moriawase $18.00+++ was pretty good...


and while still expensive, seems more worth the price than the skewers.

Having had an amazing Tofu Mentai at Kura No Naka, I was quite eager to try the Tofu Mentaiko Cheese $13.00+++ here :


It looked totally different from the one at Kura No Naka and tasted totally different too... it was rich in its own way but nowhere as cheesy as the one at Kura No Naka. Not a dish I would order again here...

An odd dish that we tried was the Tebasaki Bacon Age $9.00+++ :


In case you can't tell from the picture, it's actually a deboned chicken wing, with asparagus wrapped in bacon in the place of the bone. A bizarre combination right? But I quite liked it...

For a taste of sushi, we ordered the Hana Nigiri $36.00+++ :


and Spicy Soft Shell Crab Maki $12.00+++


The nigiri was gorgeous to look at and tasted pretty fresh. The Spicy Soft Shell Crab Maki was ordered mostly for the still starving guys - Jap food is so not for men :)

This place was pricey as expected for a more 'authentic' Japanese restaurant, and the staff need to be trained to check in on the private rooms more often. While the food was ok, it's not good enough for me to want to come back anytime soon. That plus the parking situation at Tanglin Village is a real pain...


Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant
10 Dempsey Road
#01-22 S247700
Tel : 6474 2143
www.rakuichi.com.sg

Siem Reap Trip

Was in Siem Reap in July for just two days... and nearly wanted to skip posting about the food I had there coz Cambodian food really wasn't that great. Well, Siem Reap is mostly a tourist town (everyone is there just to see Angkor Wat) so the food is likely not all that authentic... and in the short time I was there, I was more preoccupied with covering all the sights than I was trying the local food.

But there was a good and cheap restaurant along the main stretch of restaurants along Pub Street called Soup Dragon. The menu is a mix of Khmer, Vietnamese and Western cuisine. Decided to adventurous and tried some local fare...

It was a bit of a mystery how the dishes would turn out based on the name of the dish. For example, Prahoc Sauce with Minced Pork US$4 turned out to be this -


It tasted mostly like a Thai curry would, and had bits of pork with bits of fish - weird combination right?

Also ordered the Omelette Trey Pra Ma US$2 -


I can't remember what the description in the menu actually said, but there was definitely some mention of an ingredient in the omelette being "strong-smelling" so I was quite hesistant when the dish arrived... but the "strong-smelling" ingredient turned out to be salted fish. It had a pretty strong smell and taste, but nothing I wasn't used to :)

Also ordered the Fresh Vegetarian Spring Rolls for just US$2 -


Soup Dragon
#369 Group 6 Mondol 1
Siem Reap
Tel : 063 964 933

It was a short trip but I was quite pleased coz I got to see all the things I wanted to see. Started putting the photos up on kodakgallery.com but erm, it's still a work in progess... so until I've finished doing up those photos, here are a few as a preview...

Café 211

I used to frequent this place during uni time when I was staying at Eusoff Hall. The dinner served is normally random dishes with rice but Tuesdays was always chicken rice, and we would use that as an excuse to eat somewhere else - and more than a few times, ended up here.

I'm a bit surprised that this place has survived all those years as the food is really not fantastic, but it does have very good ambience - the outdoor area of the café is on the roof terrace of Holland Shopping Centre, and is a really nice place to chill out in the evenings.

Came here during lunch time so decided to sit indoors :)

I had the set lunch which consisted of Clam Chowder Soup -


Spaghetti with Beef -


And Dessert -


Was a bit surprised that the beef with the pasta was a whole steak - I kinda expected sliced beef. Didn't have the dessert as I was quite full by then and let S have it instead coz all she had was the Tandoori Salad -


One of those rare times when I forget to keep the receipt hence the lack of prices :P

The food here is just ok, service reasonably attentive, but the real attraction of this place is the relaxing outdoor area. Good place to keep in mind when you're at Holland Village but want to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds.


Café 211
211 Holland Avenue
#04-01 Holland Village
Singapore 278967
Tel: 6462 6194

New Collection at the Dotted Line

Congratulations to Dorothy on the successful launch of her new collection!

I am the proud owner of the "It's a Wrap" Dress - for some reason I always fall in love with the only polka-dotted piece in her whole collection... and I'm normally not even a big polka dot fan! But this wrap dress fits beautifully, as wrap dresses are meant to, and I loved the graduated polka dots... so I just had to get it :)

Go check out her new collection at The Dotted Line Shop!

Zi Yean Restaurant

Actually ate here a while back but photos got lost in transit so decided to make a trip back here. This place is pretty famous with quite a few people touting it as one of the best dim sum places in Singapore.

There are three sections to this place - there is a coffeeshop, an alfresco area and an air-conditioned restaurant. All serve the same food and I think the prices are the same but GST is charged in the restaurant. Having sat at the alfresco area the last time, we decided to try the air-con (yay!) area this time...

Before I start on the food, check out the erm, interesting chopstick holder -


So tacky right??

Now for the food... we had the Century Egg Porridge $4.50+ :


Pretty normal but good... goes perfect with dim sum :)

This is the first time I've had Shredded Yam Cake $2.50+ :


Interesting and not like any other dim sum I've ever had. Would have tasted much better if it came straight out of the pan, but it was at room temperature, like it had been sitting there for a while already... very filling though.

Of course we have to order a few classic dim sum dishes so we went with Har Gow $2.50+ :


Char Siew So $2.60+ :


and Prawn Chee Cheong Fun $2.60+ :


The dim sum were all ok, but really nothing to rave about... I think what bothered me most was how the food wasn't hot enough... won't be planning a trip back anytime soon but will keep it in mind for a quick weekday lunch.

I didn't have very good dim sum on my recent trip to HK so I'm totally craving some now... Please let me know if you have recommendations for good (and not too expensive) dim sum in Singapore!


Zi Yean Restaurant
56 Lengkok Bahru
#01-443
S150056